Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
The barista started to protest, but my eyes caught Artur’s, who’d been watching the show from the back of the room with amusement.
I could see the surprise in his eyes that I hadn’t handled this all differently—kind of like picking her up and bodily throwing her through the plate-glass window like the trash that she was.
I wasn’t a good man.
Truthfully, I’d lost what little desire that I had to be nice to women a long time ago right around the same time that my little sister went missing.
Women were just as bad as men were, and if they said they weren’t, they were fuckin’ liars.
“Please see yourself out,” Artur said, coming from the door to stand directly beside the barista.
The barista huffed, grabbed her purse from underneath the counter, and stalked off.
I jerked my chin at Artur, telling him without words that I wanted her followed far enough away that I was sure she wasn’t going to double back and deface the building or something.
She looked vindictive enough to do that.
“I can make you a new latte to make sure,” Milena offered.
“Thank you,” Brecken said. “I’d also like to order some coffee for my brothers.”
“Coming right up,” she said. “Move, Shasha.”
I stepped to the side to allow her to get to work.
When I did, those green eyes met mine once again, and I had the urge to reach out and touch her, just to see what she would do.
When she blushed, I winked and stepped around the counter and said, “Gotta go, Milena.”
“Thanks for coming in and making me work on my day off,” she muttered.
I chuckled.
“Love you,” I teased.
“Love you, too,” she grumbled back.
If we date, there isn’t such a thing as a breakup. We’re too old for that. If your love runs out, we can use mine. I’ll hotspot you.
—Brecken’s secret thoughts
BRECKEN
Heart pounding, I watched the gorgeous man go and wondered what in the hell had just happened.
“He’s your brother?” I asked.
The owner sighed. “It depends. Did he make you mad?”
I snickered. “No.”
“Then yes, he’s my brother,” she grumbled. “He’s been telling me to get rid of that girl for years. But he seriously has no idea how hard it is to find good help. He has no problem with that, because the people that work with him want to impress him. These people”—she gestured toward the coffee shop behind her—“they’re here because they are just starting out at the job life. They have no experience yet, or if they do, they have no ambition in life. No one takes a job like this seriously.”
“I work with high schoolers,” I admitted. “But I can tell you that this new generation that’s coming through the high school right now, they’re a bit better than the previous years.”
“Oh, that’s a good sign.” She set my latte in front of me and said, “What kind of coffee for your brothers?”
“Four black coffees,” I said. “Large.”
“Done.” She smiled. “I’ll bring them over to you.”
I smiled and said, “How much?”
“On the house.” She shrugged. “We owe you one, Brecken.”
I wasn’t surprised the owner knew my name.
I came here almost every single day after work.
She’d been here the day that I’d had my world shattered with Rupert, too.
She’d seen the devastation and had consoled me with coffee and dairy-free cookies.
I’d liked her ever since.
“Thank you, Milena.” I smiled.
I headed back over to my brothers, who were dwarfing the small tables that filled the tiny café space of the coffee shop.
“Was it milk?” my oldest brother, Ryler, asked.
“She quit before she could tell me,” I admitted. “Or she was fired. I’m not really sure what happened there.”
“She was shit anyway,” Bronc admitted.
I sighed. “I know.”
“What’s on your agenda this week, Breck?” Holden asked. “Tibbs and I want to know if you want to go fishing with us.”
My brows rose to my hairline. “Are you telling me that you’re actually taking some time off of work?”
I had four brothers and two sisters.
We were a family of seven belonging to two of the best people in the world, Cane Sweat and Reba Faith Sweat. Daddy was a bull rider and was on the circuit since he was a baby and his own dad had hauled him around from rodeo to rodeo.
Dad had caught the bug and had devoted his life to it, even taking Mom along for the ride when they met at a rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
They married fast and produced kids faster.
They’d produced four boys first: Ryler Hughes, Bronc Kash, Holden Tru, and Tibbs Thomas.
But it wasn’t until the first girl was born, me, Brecken Navy Sweat, that Mom and Dad started to settle down.
They found a house in rural Texas and had started raising bulls for a living instead of Dad riding them.
Over the next couple of years, Mom and Dad had two more girls, JJ—Judy June—and McCoy Mariah.